Laboratory Report Guidelines

Objective

State briefly the main purpose of the experiment.

Diagram

As in Field Notebook, only neater.

Location Map

As in Field Notebook, only neater.

Identification of Apparatus

As in Field Notebook.

Data

As in Field Notebook, only neater (often convenient to put it into a spreadsheet)

Calculations

Give any mathematical formulas that you intend to use, and provide one sample calculation for each formula by substituting numerical values with the proper units for a particular case. Do not otherwise show numerical details, but provide a concise summary of the results of the calculations to a proper number of significant figures.

Graphs

Whenever appropriate, present the data and/or results in graphical form.

Discussion

This section should contain a concise summary and evaluation of the experiment. Each of the following items need take only one or two sentences. (a) Identify the principal results of your measurements and calculations. One or two numerical values may be incorporated within a sentence, but any more extensive tabular or graphical results should simply be referred to where they appear in previous portions of the report. (b) Comment on the precision of your results, indicate approximate limits or error, and mention briefly the principal factors contributing to the error. (c) Compare your results to expectations. State the source, including page, from which an expected value is taken (e.g., Table x.x of seismic velocities from Burger, p. xx). Lack of agreement between your result and an accepted value does not necessarily represent an error on your part; your sample may have been different or your measurements may have been made under different conditions.

C. H. Jones | CIRES | Dept. of Geological Sciences | Univ. of Colorado at Boulder

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